Concealed Handgun Permits

By David Kopel.

Issue Backgrounder Number 99-A. Jan. 14, 1999. More by Kopel on
licensed carry.

What states have concealed handgun permit laws?
Thirty-one states have strong protections for the right of citizens to carry
handguns for lawful protection. Of these 31 states, 29 have "shall issue" laws,
which mandate that an adult who meets certain criteria "shall" be issued a
permit to carry a handgun for protection. Vermont requires no permit at all.
Idaho requires a permit in Boise, and no permit in the rest of the state.

Do Colorado's neighbors have such laws?
Oklahoma, Arizona, Wyoming, and Utah do. The Kansas legislature passed a "shall
issue" bill which was vetoed; a majority of Nebraska's unicameral legislature
and Nebraska's governor support a "shall issue" bill, but the bill was
filibustered in the closing days of the 1998 and 2000 Nebraska legislature.

How risky are people with handgun permits?
The most detailed data are available from the Florida Secretary of State, where
a "shall issue" law has been in effect since 1988. The data show that people
with handgun carry permits are perhaps the most law-abiding population in the
United States. Floridians who have permits commit violent crimes at a rate of
only 1/300th of Floridians without permits. If everyone were as law-abiding as
permit holders, not even police officers would need to carry guns for
protection. It makes sense that people with handgun permits would be extremely
law-abiding; after all, they are a group that chooses to pay a fee and fill out
paperwork just to get a permit to do something which they could do anyway (carry
a concealed gun), without anyone ever noticing.

Do "shall issue" laws lead to traffic
shoot-outs? In the 31 states with shall
issue laws, there has been only one case of a driver shooting another driver.
That case, in Texas, was ruled to be a justifiable homicide; one driver had
caused an accident, and then jumped out of his truck and began attempting to
kill the other driver. The victim lawfully used his handgun to resist a deadly
attack.

What happens to crime rates?
University of Chicago professor John Lott studied 18 years worth of data from
every county in the United States. He accounted for dozens of sociological
variables, such as changes in income or in arrest rates. Lott found that when a
state enacts "shall issue" legislation, murder falls by 10%, rape by 3% and
aggravated assault by 6%.

What variables influence the drop in crime?
The title of Professor Lott's book says it all:
More Guns, Less Crime. The more people who acquire handgun carry
permits, the greater the drop in crime. The crime-reductive effect of additional
gun carrying by women in several times larger than the crime-reductive effect of
additional gun carrying by men. While crime starts dropping immediately, the
full effects of the concealed handgun law take place over the next five years;
this makes sense, since typically there is a large increase in permits when the
law first takes effect, and then a further long, slow increase over the next
several years.

What about mass killings in public places?
The enactment of a "shall issue" law leads to a sharp decline in mass killings
(two or more deaths) in public places--since the risk of armed resistance
sharply reduces the possibility that a suicidal would-be mass killer will
achieve his objective of killing a lot of people. In California, for example,
mass murderer Burford Furrow investigated various Jewish centers, and found that
they were protected by armed guards; so he ended up committing his crime at a
school which had no protection. Mass killers are attracted to places where they
know it is illegal for law-abiding people to have guns.

Should certain areas be off-limits to gun permit
holders?
Under most "shall issue" laws, private
property owners retain their full constitutional rights to exclude anyone they
want. Since the experience of other states shows that permit holders are highly
law-abiding, there is no public safety benefit from using the force of law to
declare certain areas off-limits to law-abiding permit holders. Indeed, it would
be very dangerous for a law to make hospitals, schools, universities, churches,
or any other places into "safe zones" for criminals. The vast majority of mass
killings take place in such "safe zones."

What about the level of fees and background
checks?
Lott's research show that the more people who
receive permits, the more than crime will go down. Thus, setting permit fees at
high levels will harm public safety, by discouraging applicants. Since poor
people tend to live in higher-crime neighborhoods, excessive fees can be
especially dangerous. A basic records check will suffice for the background
check; there is no need to waste money by allowing field interviews or other
time-consuming projects.. The public revenue gain from high fees is much smaller
than the public safety benefits of lower crime levels.

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Nothing written here is to be construed as
necessarily representing the views of the Independence Institute or as an
attempt to influence any election or legislative action. Please send
comments to Independence Institute, 727 East 16th Ave., Denver, Colorado 80203 Phone 303-279-6536. (email)webmngr @ i2i.org